Cops 'piecing together' death of ex-Blagojevich aide

September 13, 2009

Country Club Hills Mayor Dwight Welch holds up the drivers license of Clarissa Flores-Buhelos, the girlfriend of Christopher Kelly, during a news conference at the Country Club Hills Police Department today. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

A day after Christopher Kelly died in Chicago, a host of questions remained today about the final hours of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's one-time top adviser, who was about to start serving a prison term.

Police said this morning they didn't yet know whether Kelly, 51, tried to kill himself by ingesting the drugs found inside the 2007 black Cadillac Escalade registered to his roofing company. But a girlfriend told police Kelly said he wanted to commit suicide in text messages he sent to her.

After an initial autopsy, the Cook County Medical Examiner's office said further studies are needed before it can determine a cause of death.

Plus, there's a person police called a "mystery man" with gray hair who unsuccessfully tried to pick up Kelly's car from the hospital with keys in hand -- who police are still trying to identify.

"We're piecing this together as we go along," said Country Club Hills Mayor Dwight Welch during a news conference.

Kelly was set to start a nearly eight-year federal sentence this week after pleading guilty to federal mail fraud in an $8.5 million kickback scheme at O'Hare International Airport. A close confidant of Blagojevich's and his chief fundraiser, Kelly faced intense pressure from prosecutors seeking help in their federal case against the impeached governor.

Police in Country Club Hills -- where Tylenol wrappers and a large container of pills were found in Kelly's car in the parking lot of a lumber yard -- say their main witness, Clarissa Flores-Buhelos, became uncooperative with police after dropping off Kelly at Oak Forest Hospital late Friday night. Her attorney vehemently denies Flores-Buhelos is not cooperating.

What is known is that Kelly arrived at the hospital about 11:15 p.m. Friday, suffering from what appeared to be a medical overdose, officials said.

The police officer who interviewed Kelly in the hospital said he told him that he took Tylenol for pain because of recent surgery, Country Club Hills Police Chief Regina Evans said.

Later, Kelly became "very defensive," Welch said. He told an officer: "I know what you are trying to do. You are trying to trick me," Evans said. The officer said Kelly did not admit to trying to kill himself, she added.